John Shutler

I've just sent you as text message about the job in bournemouth. I'm in the new forest so not far away. Can the brush cutting be done in two passes of a excavator mounted flail head, or does it need to be brush cut? I can shear al the gorse and chip with heizohack and remove from site

@Rob D I think il just keep popping in 😉

As simple as that.... 🙄 To the OP, whilst telehandlers are good at being telehandlers they are to a certain extent a one trick pony. The merlo I have in my yard is invaluable, however its no good for driving an hour to winch a tree over, or for going to site to pick up lengths of processor size timber or for the multitude of tasks a tractor with roofmount or trailer mounted crane is far better suited. I ran my buisness for 12-13 years before I bought a telehandler yet I've been running tractors with cranes for the last 8 years and can say that they have brought far more change to my business than the multitude of diggers, skid steers, loaders and unimogs I've also ran in that time Im now looking to buy my 5th tractor and crane combo. you don't need to spend 100k straight off the bat when an older 8 series valmet with crane can be picked up in the 20-30k range good luck

i’ve got various bits and pieces on finance, none of them are secured against my house and if i can’t pay for them the finance company will take them off me and pay me the difference in value when they sell them. i tend not to stress out about it to much to be honest, i need the equipment for the work i want to carry out so i also need the finance I used to get a lot of anxiety about running out of work, until i stopped and thought about how ridiculous that statement is. A business that’s been running over a decade does not just run out of work.

just remind me what it is you add to the forum?

it it?

i’m with skyhuck on this one. there’s 3 of us but i also run two tractors, two diggers, a mog and a 16 inch chipper. we either go out as a 3 man team or on smaller days the guys go out as a two man team and i go subbing with one of the machines or do my consultancy work. we work onsite 4 days a week and keep fridays for a bit of stump grinding or jobs around the yard etc. we’ve got 80ks worth of work ahead of us on the other hand my mate runs a company in the same area as me, 3 teams, a manager and two office girls. does he make much more money than me? probably not, but he’s certainly a lot more stressed

i’ve been arb arrived for the last 8-9 years and would say it’s been worth it. it’s opened doors to some work that i wouldn’t have got otherwise

🙄 How what works? I wasn’t debating the legality of a tractor doing 55k I was highlighting an issue relating to road users being unable to perceive speed properly and having a preconceived idea that all tractors are slow As far as you know I could also be operating the tractors as Hgv’s, complying with all the relevant legislation etc but you’d much rather try to start an argument than consider that possibility

doesn’t matter wether it’s legal or not, the problem still exists

Very good points, going to have a good crawl around and look to see if it has a place ready to install a line but failing that a t off and change to free flow return might have to do for now if be surprised if there wasn’t an extra port on the tank

what people don’t realise is how quick tractors can actually go. both mine will do 55k and people pull out or try to cross into a junction in front of you they don’t realise your going nearly as quick as they are

when i fitted the case drain pipe onto my jcb there was a spare port on the hydraulic tank that we added it to kniw me i’d probably forget to change the valve over if it was t’d into an existing line

I went through all this 6 or 7 years ago when I had a boxer skid steer. I ended up going for a non powered rotator in the end. Perfect for dragging brush behind the machine as you can concentrate on where you are going not what the brash is doing as it follows you. Easy enough to knock the grab round on a log to line it up when you wanted to pick something up and absolutely perfect for feeding a chipper as you'd track backwards towards the chipper, turn 90 degrees then drive it in forwards. I ended up getting a BMG style one fabricated and it was great

my concern is that you give false information to somebody who doesn’t know any better and the possible repercussions that may follow. Instead of offering advice on tree stability and the intricacies of trees in relation to construction (a subject that you clearly have a lack of knowledge on) maybe you should save your input until someone wants to know how to clean something, “write a book” or be a fireman theres been many like you before and i’m pretty sure you won’t be the last. Enjoy it while it lasts

you do talk some absolute rubbish I remember when this forum was populated by actual tree workers apologies to all, I shouldn't feed the troll...

Hi are you looking to sell as a job lot or would you let 6 go?

yes i’m a tree surgeon, ive run my own business contracting for the last 13 years and worked as a subcontract climber and for company’s for 7 years before that so i’m well versed on the industry your right, i know nothing of you, what you’ve been through or tolerated in your life. But i do know the tree industry sex and all the differences between men and women aside, coming into this industry over the age of 30 is hard. if you were a professional footballer, 35 is getting toward the end of your professional career and believe me being a tree surgeon especially a climber is a damn site harder than being a professional footballer with all the support, physical and monetary that comes with that profession essentially you’d join the industry as a apprentice, regardless of wether you’ve completed a 4 week multi ticket course or not. you will cost money for whoever you work for initially and your pay will reflect that. it’ll take 3 years minimum to get upto a commercial speed but more likely 5, at which point you may well be over 40 if you’ve never had a particularly physical job or maintained a good level of fitness outside of your day job then dragging brash, moving timber or climbing round trees all day will be physically demanding. now add the endless rain we seem to get over winter and something that looks great fun when your sat at a desk looking out the window suddenly isn’t quite how you imagined it would be I could go on and on best of luck

still wearing those rose tinted glasses... you might be in for a bit of a shock

🤣 multi national with millions of pounds worth of machinery? my reputation obviously precedes me

i’d be bust if i charged £180 for 4 hrs work

Where did you get it from?

100k? my tractor and chipper setup is £120k and that’s a reasonably modest setup in comparison

oh yeah, i forgot about all those perks ?